Elemental Impact

🍳 Got eggs? Plantible's $30M Series B offers a sustainable solution amid price spikes and shortages 🌱 Egg prices spiked 400% during recent shortages, leaving food manufacturers scrambling to navigate volatile supply chains while also addressing mounting allergen concerns and consumer rejection of synthetic ingredients—creating a $30B+ market opportunity. Meanwhile, animal agriculture generates emissions equal to 5x all cars in America combined, consumes 70% of agricultural land, and guzzles 29% of our freshwater. We're highlighting one of our newest portfolio companies Plantible whose Series B funding in November is fueling the rapid scaling of Rubi Protein™—a remarkable functional protein extracted from Lemna (duckweed).Rubi outperforms both animal and plant proteins functionally while enabling food manufacturers to maintain clean labels and reduce costs. The RuBisCO breakthrough: • Functions like animal protein (emulsifying, binding, gelling) at dramatically lower inclusion rates 💪 • Complete protein with PDCAAS score of 1.0—matching animal protein nutritionally 🔬 • Enables egg replacement during supply shortages and price spikes (up to 400% in recent years) 🥚 • Grows on non-arable land without pesticides, using 90% less water than traditional crops while saving millions of acres of farmland 🌍 • Already securing multi-million dollar offtake agreements with major food companies 📈 Most importantly, Rubi Protein isn't merely a substitute—it often outperforms animal and synthetic ingredients while optimizing costs and maintaining clean labels. It's a pragmatic revolution in food manufacturing that improves products while reducing environmental impact. Shoutout to founders @Tony Martens Fekini and Maurits van de Ven, who started with an abandoned algae farm in San Diego and are now operating a 100-acre commercial facility in Texas. Their innovative approach to transforming a common aquatic plant into a revolutionary food ingredient exemplifies the kind of pragmatic, market-driven climate solutions we're proud to support. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03cQLJX0

🎉 BIG NEWS! We're honored to be named one of Fast Company's 2025 Most Innovative Companies in the Small and Mighty category! For 15 years, Elemental has focused on building an ecosystem where innovation thrives—we believe this is essential for solving the world’s most pressing challenges. Through deep collaboration across visionary entrepreneurs, corporate partners, community members, donors, and our dedicated team, we've invested in 160+ companies to date. Our team is committed to addressing the $150B+ “Scale Gap" by bringing catalytic capital and hands-on expertise to promising first-of-a-kind (FOAK) and commercial ready technologies, ensuring they can scale and deliver real impact in communities. Thank you to all our partners who prove every day that being small never limits how mighty your impact can be. Learn more: https://hubs.li/Q03cB2zz0 #FCMostInnovative Fast Company Dawn Lippert Avra van der Zee Melissa Uhl Mike Curtis Danya Hakeem Mark Chambers Corina Standiford Christina Angelides Kim Karris Lauren Tonokawa Aparna Reddy Danielle J. Harris

"Governments must prepare for continued climate migration. When millions of people are forced to abandon their homes due to extreme weather, the consequences ripple within and beyond borders." Climate Migration Council member Leon E. Panetta's op-ed, out this week, argues that climate change is a grave security threat. The former U.S. Secretary of Defense and director of the CIA shares a multi-faceted approach that proposes a forward-looking approach to stabilizing populations in light of the current climate crisis. Read the piece in Just Security: https://lnkd.in/e8FgVKtn

⚡ Spotlight: MetOx's $193.7M facility to manufacture revolutionary power transmission technology ⚡ America's aging power grid is approaching a breaking point. Without major upgrades, we face increasing blackouts, billions in economic losses, and the inability to power our AI revolution or meet clean energy goals. Traditional copper cables waste up to 15% of electricity as heat and can't handle the massive power demands of our electrified future without claiming vast amounts of land for new transmission corridors. We're highlighting our portfolio company MetOx International, which recently announced a new manufacturing facility in Chatham County, North Carolina. Their high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire transmits 10x more power than copper with zero energy loss—providing key breakthroughs for grid modernization, renewable energy integration, and even powering advanced nuclear fusion reactors. The impact will be transformative: • 333 new manufacturing jobs with average salaries of $75,132 (55% above local average) 💼 • $987.8 million contribution to North Carolina's economy over 12 years 📈 • Critical domestic manufacturing capacity for essential grid technology 🏭 • Enabling power-hungry data centers, clean energy projects, and fusion energy to scale more efficiently 🔌 MetOx's expansion demonstrates how breakthrough technologies can simultaneously advance our energy infrastructure while creating quality manufacturing jobs in communities across America. Shoutout to Bud Vos and the entire MetOx team for scaling this revolutionary technology that's solving one of our most pressing infrastructure challenges while creating economic opportunity in North Carolina. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03cqMG90

🔥 Spotlight: Fervo Energy secures $255M to scale clean, 24/7 geothermal power 🌋 Clean energy faces a critical reliability gap. While solar and wind are intermittent, geothermal provides something essential: always-available power that doesn't emit carbon. The Department of Energy estimates enhanced geothermal systems could power 65 million American homes—equivalent to the combined population of California, Texas, and New York. We're highlighting our portfolio company Fervo Energy, which recently secured $255 million in new funding to deploy their innovative geothermal technology. Led by CEO Tim Latimer, Fervo uses horizontal drilling techniques from the oil and gas industry to dramatically increase geothermal well productivity while creating transition opportunities for skilled fossil fuel workers. The impact is substantial: • Developing Cape Station in Utah—the largest enhanced geothermal project in history 🏆 • Creating 6,600+ construction jobs and 160+ permanent positions in rural communities 👷♀️ • Generating $437M+ in wages and $1.1 billion in local economic investment 💰 • Pioneering a Geothermal Apprenticeship Program with Southern Utah University 🎓 • Set to begin generating electricity by 2026, delivering power for ~1.5 million homes ⚡ Our partnership with Fervo began in 2020, and we continue to support their growth and innovative approach to clean energy. We're particularly excited about their workforce development initiatives that are creating pathways for skilled workers to transition into the renewable energy sector while building economic opportunity in rural communities. Shoutout to Tim Latimer and the entire Fervo team for creating a solution that addresses both our climate goals and the need for reliable, 24/7 power—all while building economic opportunity in the communities where they operate. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03bRv_c0

🥳 🎈 🎉 We're celebrating: EIGHT climate entrepreneurs from our ecosystem named to Inc.'s 2025 #FemaleFounders500! 🎉 🥳 🎈 Honored to see seven remarkable entrepreneurs from our portfolio and our very own Dawn Lippert recognized on Inc. Magazine's prestigious list celebrating the most creative, tenacious, and inspiring female leaders in America: • 🔥 Allison Wolff of Vibrant Planet built an AI-driven land management platform now covering over 37 million acres across six states, giving fire departments and government agencies the digital tools to predict and mitigate wildfire risks • 🥗 Christine Moseley of Full Harvest doubled revenue with her online marketplace connecting growers' imperfect produce with food and beverage buyers, helping to eliminate the 133 billion pounds of on-farm food waste in the US • 🤝 Dawn Lippert, CEO of Elemental Impact has pioneered a revolutionary approach to bridge the $150B climate technology Scale Gap, investing in 160+ companies that have raised over $10 billion in follow-on capital and created 10,000 jobs • 👩🔧 Evette Ellis of ChargerHelp built a pioneering workforce development program creating pathways to green careers while improving the reliability of EV charging infrastructure, addressing both the maintenance needs and employment opportunities in the growing electric vehicle industry • 🔌Kameale C. Terry of ChargerHelp identified the critical need for a dedicated workforce to maintain the growing network of EV charging stations, creating quality green jobs while reducing charging infrastructure downtime • ♻️ Megan O'Connor of Nth Cycle became the first U.S. metal refining company to produce premium nickel cobalt MHP, crucial for manufacturing batteries and accelerating the clean energy transition • 🦾 Rebecca Hu Thrams of Glacier developed AI-powered recycling robots that rescue 130M items from landfills annually at less than half the cost of existing methods, with potential to decrease global emissions by up to 10B tons • 🌴 Shara Ticku of C16 Biosciences created Palmless™, a breakthrough palm oil alternative made from yeast rather than trees, addressing a major driver of tropical deforestation that produces emissions comparable to the entire aviation sector It's genuinely inspiring to see these eight incredible leaders being recognized for their work. Their dedication, creativity, and persistence in tackling our climate challenges is something we're lucky to witness up close. 🤩 Congratulations to all the remarkable women recognized on the #FemaleFounders500 list! 👏 Read more about these female leaders: https://lnkd.in/d_2CzDy

💧Announcement: $27.5M in fresh funding for Capture6's integrated water & carbon removal system 💧 Our water systems are caught in a costly paradox: they're energy-intensive while wasting half the resource they're trying to provide. U.S. water treatment emits enough CO₂ annually to equal 4.6 million transatlantic flights ✈️✈️, while traditional facilities discard up to 50% of water as brine — all as the World Economic Forum projects freshwater demand to exceed supply by 40% by 2030. We're thrilled to announce our continued investment in @Capture6 as part of their $27.5M Series A and project funding round! Their innovative system integrates directly with existing water infrastructure to transform waste brine — normally expensive to dispose of — into fresh water AND carbon removal in a single step. This dual-benefit approach represents exactly the kind of practical, scalable solution needed to address our most urgent climate and resource challenges. "Fresh water scarcity demands we rethink traditional water infrastructure to ensure districts can provide affordable, clean water and remove harmful pollutants," says our VP of Portfolio, Danya Hakeem "We are proud to double down on our support for Capture6 and the Palmdale Water District project to help deliver meaningful cost savings while providing reliable, clean water to a community that needs it most." The impact is significant: - Eliminates need for up to 100 acres of brine ponds at Palmdale facility 🚰 - Saves up to 40% in lifetime costs for water districts 💸 - Recovers over 50% of freshwater from desalination waste brine 💦 - Removes CO₂ while generating valuable green chemicals 🌱 - Helps California meet its 2045 carbon neutrality goal 🥅 Shoutout to Ethan Cohen-Cole, Luke Shors Leo Hyoungkun Park, PhD and the entire Capture6 team for pioneering this dual solution. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03blLpV0 Gabriel Scheer Nick Fong Annelise Dillon Amir Chireh Mehr Corey Scult Avra van der Zee Dawn Lippert Corina Standiford David Ganske Kimberly Baker Gwendy Brown

🌲 Company Spotlight: Mast Reforestation's innovative $25M biomass burial & forest restoration solution 🌲 🔥 Wildfires destroy over 5 million acres annually in the US, with restoration costs ranging from $2-10 billion. For landowners, the economics are brutal: reforestation requires a 60-80 year wait for ROI, making "putting money literally in anything else" more attractive. The result? Millions of burned trees are simply cut, piled, and burned on-site — releasing even more carbon into our atmosphere. We're highlighting our portfolio company @Mast Reforestation's innovative approach that secured $25M in Series B funding earlier this year. As CEO Grant Canary shared with TechCrunch "the most expensive parts of reforesting after a fire is managing the dead, burnt trees. We've turned that from a cost to a revenue driver to finance reforestation in areas where it would be too expensive to reforest otherwise." Mast Reforestation has pioneered an innovative solution: their project in Montana, where the devastating Poverty Flats Fire swept through in 2021, buries fire-destroyed trees in clay-rich soil up to 30 feet deep, creating both carbon removal and rapid reforestation. The impact is significant: - 30,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits through 2026 (equivalent to taking 6,500 🚗🚙 off the road for a year) - 900 acres restored in Montana - Reforestation in 6-12 months (vs traditional 3-5 years) 🌱 - Deep local impact through ecological recovery Shoutout to Grant and his team for pioneering this dual approach to carbon removal that simultaneously restores forest ecosystems. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q039DGg50

Out of stealth and into the world! We are thrilled to back Ceramic.ai and its founder Anna Patterson, who previously served as VP of engineering at Google. Earthshot Ventures is joining New Enterprise Associates (NEA), IBM, and Samsung Next in the $12m seed. As Anna says, "to be truly valuable, AI models must be fine-tuned for your specific needs. But training these custom models has remained out of reach for most organizations. That’s where Ceramic.ai steps in." Ceramic.ai's technological breakthrough delivers 2.5x greater efficiency, and can train on 25x more words than typical models with no loss of performance. Efficiency is particularly critical in AI, where massive computational and energy growth is happening today. According to McKinsey, data centers will draw more than 5% of US energy this year, and 10% by 2029. This is the frontier of energy efficiency and clean electrons. H/t to Radhika Malpani, Ramsay Siegal, Mike Jackson, Matt Logan, Austin Blackmon, Lila Tretikov.

🌱 $10M in fresh funding for game-changing organic fertilizer facility 🌱 Traditional fertilizers = 2% of global emissions (like 170 million 🚗🚙 on the road). For organic growers seeking sustainable alternatives of domestically made fertilizer, options have been limited and costly. We're doubling down on Nitricity! Building on our initial 2022 investment that supported their Fremont facility and successful Central Valley field trials, this funding helps scale production to commercial volumes. "Nitricity proves sustainable fertilizer can be produced at scale while providing local economic benefits," says Danya Hakeem our VP of Portfolio. "As one of dozens of FOAKs we've funded, Nitricity is a perfect example of a maturing company that is ready to commercialize." The facility will create 20 jobs in Merced County — bringing deep local impact to this community — while transforming agricultural waste (almond shells) into valuable fertilizer. The market agrees with our confidence: production is already sold out through 2028! Shoutout to Nicolas Pinkowski and team for creating a solution that tackles both production AND on-field emissions — exactly the kind of climate innovation with community impact we've championed for 15 years. Learn more: https://hubs.li/Q039fKFz0 Dawn Lippert Avra van der Zee Energy Impact Partners Lowercarbon Capital Mitch Rubin Sadie Henderson David Ganske Corina Standiford Danielle J. Harris